The former North Kerry Fianna Fáil TD and Minister of State, Tom McEllistrim, has died. He was 68 and had been ill for some time. Mr McEllistrim served in the Dáil from 1969 to 1987, and again from 1989 to 1992. He served as a Minister of State on 2 occasions; at the Department of Fisheries and Forestry and at the Office of Public Works. Mr McEllistrim was a member of the so-called Gang of Five, which claimed to have brought Charles Haughey to the leadership of Fianna Fáil in 1979. He also backed Mr Haughey throughout subsequent leadership heaves.
